


Heatsick

by sbuggbot



Category: SteamWorld Quest (Video Game)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen, Humor, One-Shot, Pre-Canon, Slice of Life, heat exhaustion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-20 05:36:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20222671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sbuggbot/pseuds/sbuggbot
Summary: In general, steambots can handle heat pretty well. For the most part.





	Heatsick

Not only was it abnormally warm even for this time of year, but it was also _ humid _ on top of that. So humid, in fact, that Copernica had been complaining about her glasses fogging up whenever she went outside--which was often because she hated locking herself up indoors. Galleo, on the other hand, was hiding in his basement more than ever; it was cooler down there and a perfect excuse to avoid people.

If she was going to be honest, Armilly wasn’t handling it very well. She hadn’t ever been someone who liked the heat, but usually, she was alright in it. Not today, though--she’d been too hot since around 8:30 that morning and it had only gotten worse since then. But her parents had a grocery stand she needed to help run and she wasn’t going to shirk her responsibility (or let her parents think that she was trying to).

Despite her refusal to complain, her parents still noticed how miserable she was. It was no secret to them that heat didn’t agree with her. “Do you need to take a break, Armilly?”

“No Mom, I’m okay, really!” she said with an unconvincing smile and a thumbs up.

“You’re wobbling right now, and I’ve heard you panting most of the morning.”

Armilly’s face fell seeing that she wasn’t fooling her parents. “I wanna help out...”

“You won’t be able to if you make yourself heatsick. Your father and I can handle things on our own, I want you to take a break and cool down.”

“Mmh. Fine,” she grumbled. “I’ll go see if Copernica’s doing anything interesting.” Armilly shuffled off with noticeably less pep in her step than usual.

Armilly’s head started hurting and she wondered if she should try to go visit Galleo instead since he was more likely to be inside. But she was going the wrong way for that, so she pressed on the way she was going.

Okay, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea...her limbs felt oddly heavy and kept stinging.

She found a tree with an enticing amount of shade under it and decided she’d wait there. She didn’t notice much of a change as she stepped under the branches, but basic logic said that it’d be better out of the direct sun.

Feeling dizzy, she leaned against the trunk for support and drank the last of her water bottle. Had she realized that it was almost empty, she would have refilled it before she left. The water in it wouldn't have been so tepid, more than likely.

One downside of having second-hand armor, she realized: since it wasn't specially made for her, it blocked a few of her steam vents. Normally she wouldn't even dream of taking some of it off, but normally it wasn't hot enough to totally burn an egg to a crisp on the pavement.

Her fingers fumbled with the straps but had trouble undoing them properly. She'd just have to do with loosening it for now and undoing some of the extra straps she had on it to make it fit her frame better. 

It should have been a simple enough thing for Armilly to do, but the action exhausted her and made her feel even dizzier and out of breath. She was pretty sure her vision was going fuzzy as well. 

Her head was spinning like the time she hit it way too hard as a kid. She hadn't hit it on anything recently, though.

She tried to sit down but her face wound up meeting the grass.

Galleo stopped walking. "Did you hear that?"

"What, the clattering noise?" Copernica asked.

"Yeah, the one that sounded like Armilly falling over," Galleo said.

"That's... oddly specific."

"Maybe to you, but you didn't have to listen to her armor rattle around while adjusting it. Sometimes I think I hear it when I'm asleep."

"With how weird your sleep schedule is, it probably _ is _ her running amok." Copernica paused. "Which I don't hear her doing right now."

"Which means she's planning trouble or something's wrong, we should find her."

What they found was Armilly laying motionless underneath a tree. As if the sight of Armilly being still wasn't strange enough, she had tried removing some of her armor as well. Both of them knew she hated taking her armor off…

"I told you that clatter didn't sound good..." Galleo said.

Copernica crouched down and put a hand on her shoulder. "Armilly? Hello?" She shook Armilly's shoulder and spoke louder than normal, but even then she got no response. She looked back up at Galleo. "Scrap, she feels really warm. I think the weather got to her."

Thinking in a nervous blur, Galleo outstretched his palm and sprayed Armilly with his water gun in hopes to cool her off. He hadn’t quite gotten the pressure problems worked out though, and accidentally got Copernica wet too. She yelped in surprise.

“Sorry!” He blurted out, immediately turning off the water gun and pulling his hands to his chest. “I panicked…”

Copernica shook her hat off and attempted to wipe the specks of water off her lenses. “Y’know what, it’s so hot out I don’t even really care.” It wasn’t like she had her book on her either, but even then spellbooks were designed to be sturdier than the standard book. 

Armilly began to stir, prompting Copernica to ask, “Milly? Armilly, are you there?”

“Put the cat back,” she replied. “It doesn’t go in the icebox.”

Evidently, Armilly was not there. “What?”

She gave Galleo an unfocused look and said “The butter is unguarded” in a matter-of-fact tone. Armilly didn’t elaborate any further and appeared to slip back under before Galleo could ask her what she was talking about.

“Uh?” This wasn't a good sign...

“She’s probably too hot to think clearly, hang on…” She cast an ice cloud slightly above Armilly so it would settle over her. “Good, I didn’t have to run and get my book,” she muttered to herself.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Armilly to wake up properly, although she didn’t bother trying to get up. “What am I--wait, my armor?”

“If I had to guess, you took it off ‘cause you got too hot,” Galleo said.

Armilly stared at him, still not fully aware. "Put it back."

"We probably shouldn't just yet," Copernica said. "You're still really hot."

"Thanks," Armilly replied with a goofy grin on her face.

It took a moment for Copernica to realize what she said. "Th-that's not what I meant!" she sputtered while Galleo burst out laughing. 

Armilly began giggling as well, especially once Copernica pulled her hat down to hide under it. "Coco, come back!"

"No, I'm gone forever now," she mumbled from under her hat. She reached for her belt and unhooked her water bottle. "Here, your water bottle spilled."

She took the bottle and guzzled it down along with part of Galleo's. "Thanks."

"Uh, Copernica? Your cloud's running out," Galleo said. The mist was just about gone and Armilly was starting to look rather uncomfortable again.

Copernica emerged from under her hat. It was getting stuffy under there anyway. "I could probably make another one, but they're not easy to conjure in the heat of summer on your own. We should probably just go inside."

Armilly tried getting up, but even with the tree for support, her legs wobbled and shook like a baby deer's. She took half a step from the trunk and promptly lost her balance.

Galleo caught her, luckily. "Whoa, easy! How 'bout I just carry you before you bust something?"

She hung limp in his arms while she mulled this over. "Alright," she said after a few moments and let him properly carry her. She still felt weirdly warm in his arms.

As soon as the three stepped out from under the shade, Armilly groaned. Now that she had been out of it for a while, the direct sunlight was unbearable. And it wasn't going to let up soon; there wasn't a cloud in the sky right now.

"Me too," Galleo said in solidarity even though he wasn't in quite as bad shape as she was. Thank Algyron for the pipe on his back to keep _him_ from overheating...

"I know it isn't fun, Milly...hang on, I got an idea." Copernica took her hat off and hopped up to put it on Armilly's head. "There, that's probably cooler than your hood."

Armilly made a half-verbal grunt in response. It did feel better--in retrospect, she probably should have pulled her hood down sooner--but it could only help so much. "It's so hot th' sun's on fire…"

"The sun is always on fire, Milly. We just don't feel it as much most of the time."

"Turn it off."

"What? I can't turn off the sun!" Copernica was trying very hard to suppress a giggle. "And before you ask, Galleo can't put it out either."

"Why nooot?" Armilly whined.

Galleo butted in before Copernica could answer. "It's too far of a walk."

Armilly grumbled and let her head flop against Galleo's shoulder. She wasn't quite sure if the buzzing noise was cicadas or in her head and she felt too loopy to figure it out.

It was just too hot…

The next thing Armilly remembered was laying down somewhere much cooler. She absently noted that she was on a futon. Something was messing with her visor. Copernica was trying to get a wet cloth under it but wasn't having much luck. She was about to give up when Armilly looked at her.

Seeing that Armilly was awake, Copernica just handed the towel over to her. Armilly stuck it on top of her head and looked around, trying to get her bearings. 

"How're you feeling?"

"Fuzzy and tired." And still hot. "Where am I?"

"Galleo's basement. You fainted again so we decided to just default to the coolest place."

"Then where's Galleo? He said I'm not allowed in here if he isn't here…" Not after the time she rearranged all of his tools by color and nearly hurt herself with a drill.

The question answered itself a moment later when Galleo came down the stairs with an armful of water bottles. Chilled ones that had condensation forming on them. Armilly hardly had enough time to sit up before he placed one in her grip.

"Here, drink some...okay, not that fast!” He pushed down on the end of the bottle to get her to stop. In response to the dirty look she shot him, he told her, “I don't want you hurling on my floor."

“But I’m still hot…” Armilly groused. In response, Copernica slapped another wet towel across her shoulders. “Okay, where are you getting all these?”

“Magic,” she replied cryptically with a wave and a wiggle of her fingers. She had a bucket of water on the floor in reality, but it was very difficult for her to not snark sometimes. She patted Armilly’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.”

Armilly was content lounging on the futon and playing with a small crank Galleo had given her in hopes she wouldn’t get too restless. She was almost dozing off (as opposed to fainting) when she got the feeling she was forgetting something.

"The stand!" Armilly blurted out as she pushed herself up. Her arms felt sore and shook but she didn't care. "I said I was going to take a _ little _ break, I gotta go back!"

"No you don't," Galleo said, pushing her back down. "You've got to stay here."

She glared at him and squirmed under his hold. "I gotta go back, Mom and Dad need my help!"

"Armilly, we passed them on the way back here," Copernica said. "They're okay with you resting some more, especially during the hottest part of the day."

She stopped and looked at Copernica dubiously. "I don't remember that."

"You weren't exactly conscious for the discussion."

"Aside from the point you mumbled something about rabbits when your dad tried to talk to you," Galleo added. 

"Yeah," Copernica said with a grimace. None of them were able to figure out what Armilly had been trying to say. "You really weren't with it…"

Armilly sunk back against the futon in defeat and pouted. She was about to assert that she was feeling much better now, but then an ache rippled its way across her body.

"Armilly, if you had been out there for much longer, we would've had to take you to the emergency mechanic."

Her eyes widened at that. "Nooo…" She _ hated _ going to the mechanic.

"We almost did anyway, but we knew you'd flip your lid." Galleo really didn't want to deal with Armilly freaking out and having a panic attack in the hospital and he was damn sure Armilly didn't want to go through that either.

"Probably didn't need to go there that bad anyway," she mumbled as she put her head back.

"I'm fairly certain you could be speared through the gut and you'd say you didn't need to go see a mechanic," Copernica said with a sigh. 

Armilly scoffed. "No, I'd need someone to take the spear out, wouldn't I?"

"You're avoiding my point." Copernica pushed up her glasses to rub her eyes. "You'd literally rather die than go see a mechanic sometimes and it scares us. No going out until dusk today."

"Alright… Galleo, what do you thi--"

"Benji, that cup has water in it, what're you doing?" A moment later, there was a plastic thunk and water splashing on the floor. "Dangit, Benji!"

The bird in question tilted his head with an innocent chirp.

" ...Ok, I'll let it slide but next time there will be consequences."

A few more chirps.

Galleo sighed and scratched his head. "You're right, probably not."

"Can I join too, Benji?"

"Absolutely not, Armilly," Galleo said.


End file.
